Company , which gained fame as a manufacturer of smart music speakers, lawsuit against Google в five patents, including those covering technologies for organizing wireless communications and synchronizing loudspeakers with each other. Sonos is asking the court not only for monetary compensation, but also for a ban on the sale of Google smart speakers, smartphones and laptops in the United States.
At the same time, according to the head of Sonos, the company’s claims are not so much about patents and Google, but about the general trend of suppression of small market pioneers by large corporations. The case is seen as the culmination of years of growing dependence on Google and Amazon, which have used their resources to displace smaller companies by not only using off-the-shelf technology but also subsidizing prices to flood the market with their products.
The lawsuit is filed only against Google, since Sonos does not want to fight on two fronts at once. The lawsuit states that Sonos has repeatedly offered to find a mutually beneficial solution over the past few years, but Google, deliberately copying patented technologies in its products, did not make contact. Sonos claims that negotiations have stalled because Google responded to demands to license Sonos technology by imposing stricter rules on the use of Google's virtual assistant.
A Google spokesperson said that intellectual property discussions between the companies have been ongoing for several years and Google is disappointed that Sonos decided to file a lawsuit rather than continue negotiations. Google does not agree with the claims made and will actively defend itself in court. Google has the ability to use its extensive patent pool to countersue Sonos, but Sonos can rely on a deal made under pressure from public opinion and the threat of new antitrust proceedings.
Amazon said its Echo devices and room-linking technology were developed independently and do not overlap with Sonos patents.
Patents involved:
- — a method of synchronizing operations on several independent multimedia devices.
- — organizing the operation of a playback device in synchronized multimedia systems.
- - a method for adjusting volume levels in a multi-zone multimedia system.
- — pairing of individual devices to simulate multi-channel sound in a multimedia system.
- — connection of playback devices via WLAN.
Source: opennet.ru